A method often employed for the installation of concrete roof tiles comprises placing a tile in position so as to overlay two spaced apart roofing battens, fitting a clip to the profiled edge of the tile adjacent one of the battens, and nailing the clip to the side of the batten directly beneath the clipped edge of the tile.
A preferred clip for such a method is described in Australian Patent No. 520403 which discloses a tile clip having a rigid body having a pair of outwardly extending hooks for engagement with adjacent edge portions of an upper tile and of a lower tile of a pair of overlapping roof tiles. Each of the hooks are located on a common side of the rigid body. Fastening means are included which comprise one or a pair of opposed downwardly extending lugs having a plurality of barbs for penetration into an adjacent surface of a tiling batten. The or each lug depends from an elongate flange which is part of the rigid body wherein the flange is oriented at right angles to each hook and an intermediate web located therebetween.
This prior tile clip suffers from a number of disadvantages, including (1) a tendency to rotate or deflect under an applied load and thus can not be used advantageously in situations subject to relatively inclement or extreme weather conditions such as heavy winds; (2) the clip can only be installed using a hammer or other form of impact tool and thus the speed of installation is relatively slow and can only be carried out effectively by an experienced tradesman; (3) the clip can only be produced from relatively heavy grade metal and thus is relatively expensive to manufacture; (4) its installation is time consuming, tiring and subject to error as the tradesman must continually and in sequence, lift and place a tile, pick up a clip and hammer, locate the clip and hammer it home, and then put the hammer down before repeating the process.
This prior installation method is of particular concern because the method is tiring not only because of the repetition, but also because of the awkward position required to nail the clip. Errors occur with tile breakages because the clip is required to be nailed immediately adjacent the tile edge and any small deflection can result in the tile being hit. Additionally, and more importantly, it is not uncommon for the clip to be nailed at a location away from the edge of the tile in order to reduce breakages and speed up the tiling. However, this results in a significantly weakened roof structure which often does not comply with the relevant government safety standards.